The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Plainfield, NJ
Plainfield is a city of 55,100 in Union County, about 25 miles southwest of Midtown Manhattan · Updated November 2026
Is Plainfield, NJ safe?
Crime in Plainfield is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 71% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Plainfield. Violent crime grades B+ and property crime B-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Plainfield run from A to C-, so check the map below.
B
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 680 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
29% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Plainfield as a whole, and 71% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Plainfield scores 680.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Plainfield, NJ at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Plainfield, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Plainfield
Car thefts are uncommon. Plainfield has car thefts at about half the US rate: 1.3 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Plainfield
Low crime is the norm across Plainfield: 78% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and the rest in areas graded C. Grades across Plainfield run from A to C-; 9% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
78%22%
A or B 78%C 22%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Plainfield, the east side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Plainfield?
Reported violent crime in Plainfield peaked in 2021 and has fallen 38% since, back near its 2019 level. Property crime is down 1% from 2019. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 3.8 to 4.1 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts stayed at about 16 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 21%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
PlainfieldUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Plainfield. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Plainfield
Violent, US
Property, Plainfield
Property, US
2016
+80%
+4%
+19%
+15%
2017
+67%
+4%
+31%
+12%
2018
+1%
+0%
+2%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+10%
+4%
-16%
-8%
2021
+71%
+6%
-17%
-10%
2022
+20%
+5%
-17%
-6%
2023
+35%
+2%
+3%
-7%
2024
+7%
-4%
-0%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Plainfield
CrimeGrade™ estimates Plainfield has about 35 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 5% less than the US as a whole and 28% more than New Jersey.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Theft is the most common crime in Plainfield, about 39% of everything reported, but assault costs more, because each one does more harm.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
The Plainfield Police Department reports to the FBI in a format that leaves out vandalism, so CrimeGrade™ makes its own vandalism estimate.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
How Plainfield compares with nearby cities
Plainfield has the most crime of its 10 nearest cities.
Two things set Plainfield apart: it has 0.2 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally, and 12 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report less theft, yet theft runs higher here than that would suggest.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.0.2 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 97% of US city residents
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.12 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 95% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault.C+ (48 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 91% of US city residents
Show all 6
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.100% where people liveUS: 78%Higher than for 92% of US city residents
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery and car theft.70% of residentsUS: 24%Higher than for 90% of US city residents
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Plainfield: C- (30 of 100).9 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 83% of US city residents
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Plainfield
Crime costs Plainfield about $1,235 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, about the same as the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $54 million a year, or $986 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$1.6 million
$28
Rape
$470,000
$9
Robbery
$1.8 million
$33
Assault
$8.7 million
$157
Burglary
$680,000
$12
Theft
$3.9 million
$70
Vehicle theft
$1.1 million
$20
Arson
$37,000
$1
Vandalism
$1.9 million
$34
Total
$20 million
$364
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Plainfield means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Plainfield, NJ average a SchoolGrade of D: 29% of students test proficient, against 23% projected for schools like them. Overall, they don't meet expectations. See schools in Plainfield on SchoolGrade
